Loving You to the Stars and Back // Keith x OC //

The Answers We Seek

126

~Athena~

"Athena, it's time to get up and have breakfast," Keith's voice was muffled on the other side of the door as I laid in bed. It has been a week since the destruction of Oriande and a week since my mother was murdered by that witch.

Every other day, the Voltron Coalition set out different systems to check out the remains of disabled Robeasts. From those Robeasts, we found a few more Altean pilots and took them in for questions. Allura and Romelle would take each Altean into the interrogation room so they could get answers out of them about Honerva's plan. But as polite as they were to ask questions, none of the Alteans would speak. This annoyed Allura at every attempt.

Today, we were approaching the Grei-Aye star system where we've tracked down another Robeast from Honerva's attack and today, I didn't feel like going. Every Altean pilot we took in, the more often I recalled the moment I lost my mother back on Oriande. I wasn't sure if I was emotionally and mentally stable to be going out there to help the rest of the team.

"Athena?" Keith called out as he gently knocked on the door a couple of times.

"You can go ahead," I replied as I laid on my side. "I'll catch up."

It remained silent for a while as I laid there in my bed. I expected Keith to say something and walk off, but it was still quiet. "Athena, could you please let me in so we can talk?" He finally speaks up. "I'm worried about you."

I rolled to my other side and looked at the door, wondering if I should let Keith in. It had been a while since we were ever alone. It was either we were with the other Paladins and the other staff aboard the Atlas, or I locked myself up in my room. As I let out a sigh, I reached out for the remote to unlock my bedroom door.

The door lock clicks and flashes a green light before opening up to reveal Keith standing right at the entrance. I looked at him, seeing the worried expression all over his face. I knew I had really worried Keith, and it felt terrible.

Keith walks into the room, closing the door behind him as he made his way to my bed and sat on the side. "I know it's difficult to lose someone you care for, but we need to remain strong. We need to be strong not only for ourselves but for them too." Keith had his own experience of losing someone he cared for, and his story was more tragic than mine was. "Remember that you still have us; you have me that you can talk to."

I looked at Keith a little longer without saying anything. He was right. I did have the others, and I had him to lean on especially in this time of grief, but the thought of losing my mom bothered me. It's not something I could just quickly get over.

"Thanks, Keith," I say as I averted my eyes away from him. "What Honerva did is unforgivable. She needs to be stopped before she destroys other realities just so she could have her 'happy ending.'"

"Don't worry. We're going to find her," Keith says in response as he placed a hand on my forearm. "I promise you that we'll avenge every innocent soul she has taken away, even those Alteans she used to her advantage." Then, Keith leans down to place a kiss on my cheek. "Just stay strong for me, will you?"

I looked back at Keith as he smiled back at me. My heart fluttered against my chest as I saw the soft expression on his face. All I could do was nod and look away shyly. "Now that's out of the way, time to get up," Keith says as he urges me to get out of bed.

"I don't wanna," I whine as I hid my face in my pillow.

"Okay, now you're just being lazy," Keith chuckles. All of a sudden, Keith wraps his arm under my shoulder, placing his hand behind my back to pull me up from the bed. I squeal trying to add some weight so he wouldn't be able to pull me up completely, but Keith was much stronger than I was.